Giants fans mourn loss of a big, beloved cat named Skeeter

Former Giants third baseman Matt Duffy and his 27-pound cat Skeeter became an internet phenomenom.

Former Giants third baseman Matt Duffy and his 27-pound cat Skeeter became an internet phenomenom.

Photo: Matt Duffy

Photo: Matt Duffy

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Former Giants third baseman Matt Duffy and his 27-pound cat Skeeter became an internet phenomenom.

Former Giants third baseman Matt Duffy and his 27-pound cat Skeeter became an internet phenomenom.

Photo: Matt Duffy

Giants fans mourn loss of a big, beloved cat named Skeeter

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Skeeter was the First Cat of San Francisco baseball, an orange tabby belonging to former Giants third baseman Matt Duffy that grew to an astounding 27 pounds.

It was love at first sight for Giants fans when Duffy posted a photo of the two together.

Saturday night, Duffy announced the sad news on Instagram that his family had to put Skeeter down. He was 15 and very sick.

“It was a losing battle,” Duffy said by phone Monday, not surprised in the least that a reporter would be calling about his cat. Duffy knew what Skeeter meant to Giants fans, and how large he lived in their hearts and in Internet memes.

“He obviously was pretty old. There was something wrong with his kidneys and heart as well,” Duffy said.

The vets told Duffy’s parents that if they tried to treat his kidneys the heart would fail, and vice versa. So the family decided to let him go.

“He was really struggling to breathe two nights ago,” Duffy said. “You could tell he was really stressed. My mom was a mess. My sister was a mess. It’s obviously sad. It was not unexpected. Unfortunately, even when it’s expected it still sucks.”

Other ballplayers have shared photos of their pets online, but none captured the fans’ fancy as much as this feline, mostly because of his size.

Duffy shared of a photo of Skeeter when he was at his heaviest, 27 pounds. Duffy is lying on his bed with gaming headphones on, his arm around Skeeter, who is mugging for the camera. Another photo of Skeeter lying on his back showed his true girth.

Duffy often thought about why Skeeter became such a phenomenon.

“Obviously that first picture was pretty eye-catching, how big he looked,” Duffy said. “Don’t get me wrong. He was a big cat. But that picture ... let’s just say it wasn’t his best side.

“Jokes started coming about him taking all the food in the house and why I’m so skinny. That picture captured his personality.”

The story did not end in San Francisco when the Giants traded Duffy to the Tampa Bay Rays on Aug. 1, 2016, for pitcher Matt Moore.

The Giants almost immediately nose-dived on the field and barely made the playoffs. The skid continued in 2017, with the Giants losing 98 games.

Many fans, quite seriously, dubbed the team’s downfall “the Skeeter curse” because it happened after the Giants sent Duffy away.

Really, though, Duffy has been cursed. Since the trade he has played in just 21 games, and none in 2017, due to an Achilles tendon injury. He has had two surgeries and still does not feel 100 percent, although he believes the most recent operation to remove calcification between the tendon and bone will allow him to return to the field regularly.

He played in the Florida instructional league in October and was able to compete for seven innings on back-to-back days.

“I proved to myself I could get back on the field, which is huge mentally,” he said, “not just get back on the field and take up space, but to do OK, be able to contribute and put some aggression into my foot and not worry about it bothering me too much.”

Duffy returned home to Southern California after the league ended. He spoke Monday from Contra Costa County, where he and girlfriend Rachel will spend Thanksgiving with her family.

Duffy got to see Skeeter before flying north. When he returns Monday to resume his workouts he will feel the void when he visits his parents’ home.

Skeeter was one of two cats from the same litter that the Duffys adopted. The other, a female named Lindsey, is still around.